Defensive Planning 1

You should always make a plan as declarer and as defender it's no different. Defensive planning is a little like Ginger Rogers doing everything Fred Astaire did backwards and in heels. It's the same idea, but harder. 

As a defender, you don't see all the values for your side and so your plan is going to need to be flexible. Here's how you go about planning. 

1) What information do we have from the auction?

2) How many points can partner have?

3) What does the lead mean?

4) What is declarer going to try to do, looking at the dummy?

5) What should I do to stop declarer from succeeding?

That's a lot of work, but if you put in the work, you will be able to consistently prevent declarer from making or from taking extra tricks on your watch. 

  • For this quiz, we are East.

    The auction was: 
      West     North     East     South  
          1NT
    Pass 3NT ALL PASS  

    Partner leads the spades icon6 (4th best leads). 


    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 Dummy
    ? AQ2
    ? J103
    ? Q532
    ? Q106
    		  
    Lead
    ? 6
    		   YOU
    ? J84
    ? 9876
    ? 64
    ? J872

    Roughly how many points does partner have?
    Choose One:
    1. - 0-5
    2. - 6-9
    3. - 10-12
    4. - 13+
    Answer: 3 10-12. Declarer has 16 +/-1, dummy has 11 and we have 2. That means partner has 40-16-11-2 = 11+/- 1 
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • For this quiz, we are East.

    The auction was: 
      West     North     East     South  
          1NT
    Pass 3NT ALL PASS  

    Partner leads the spades icon6 (4th best leads). 


    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 Dummy
    ? AQ2
    ? J103
    ? Q532
    ? Q106
    		  
    Lead
    ? 6
    		   YOU
    ? J84
    ? 9876
    ? 64
    ? J872

    Looking at the lead, how many spades does partner have?
    Choose One:
    1. - 0 or 1
    2. - 2 or 3
    3. - 4 or 5
    4. - Can't know
    Answer: 3 4 or 5. Declarer must have at least 2 to open 1NT. It's unlikely partner would lead from a short suit on this auction, so we assume this is fourth best.
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • For this quiz, we are East.

    The auction was: 
      West     North     East     South  
          1NT
    Pass 3NT ALL PASS  

    Partner leads the spades icon6 (4th best leads). 


    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 Dummy
    ? AQ2
    ? J103
    ? Q532
    ? Q106
    		  
    Lead
    ? 6
    		   YOU
    ? J84
    ? 9876
    ? 64
    ? J872

    Are there any threats in dummy?
    Choose One:
    1. - Spades
    2. - Hearts
    3. - Diamonds
    4. - Clubs
    5. - No threat
    Answer: 5 No threat. Maybe the opponents have 8 diamonds, but that doesn't exactly strike fear in your heart. Other than that, the dummy isn't clearly worth much in terms of length. Don't guess which suits declarer might have.
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • For this quiz, we are East.

    The auction was: 
      West     North     East     South  
          1NT
    Pass 3NT ALL PASS  

    Partner leads the spades icon6 (4th best leads). 


    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 Dummy
    ? AQ2
    ? J103
    ? Q532
    ? Q106
    		  
    Lead
    ? 6
    		   YOU
    ? J84
    ? 9876
    ? 64
    ? J872

    What suit do we think declarer will work on?
    Choose One:
    1. - Spade
    2. - Heart
    3. - Diamond
    4. - Club
    5. - Impossible to know
    Answer: 5 Impossible to know. For declarer's 1NT call, he could have a five-card suit somewhere (or even a six-card suit), but we don't know where. 
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • For this quiz, we are East.

    The auction was: 
      West     North     East     South  
          1NT
    Pass 3NT ALL PASS  

    Partner leads the spades icon6 (4th best leads). 


    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 Dummy
    ? AQ2
    ? J103
    ? Q532
    ? Q106
    		  
    Lead
    ? 6
    		   YOU
    ? J84
    ? 9876
    ? 64
    ? J872

    Dummy plays small and the spades iconJ wins the trick. What should we play next?
    Choose One:
    1. - Spade
    2. - Heart
    3. - Diamond
    4. - Club
    Answer: 1 Spade. It's unsual to lead into the AQ, but less so when we know that this is partner's preferred suit. Declarer can always take this finesse himself so we're not giving away anything. This might have been an easier problem if dummy had the AK. A spade forces declarer to play all the other suits himself. 
    Your result so far:
    Next
  • Take a look at the full deal: 

    Vul:None
    Dlr: S    		 ? AQ2
    ? J103
    ? Q532
    ? Q106
    		  
    ? K9763
    ? K54
    ? K87
    ? K4
    		   ? J84
    ? 9876
    ? 64
    ? J872
      ? 105
    ? AQ2
    ? AJ109
    ? A953
    		  
    Can declarer make it if you switch suits at trick two?
    Choose One:
    1. - Yes
    2. - No
    Answer: 1 Yes. You may need to deal it out to see, but any switch allows declarer to make. On a club or diamond, it's easy. Declarer loses that minor trick and and another minor trick later, but has spades protected for each of those attempts and winds up with two spades, three diamonds, three clubs, and a heart.

    On a heart switch, declarer would need to guess well, but could still potentially make. That's not the important concept. The important part is that partner is the one with the entries and we want to set up partner's best suit. Partner led his best suit! Your job is to try to keep playing partner's preferred suit even if it may take time to set up.

    If you play a spade, though, partner can knock out the last spade stopper when he gets in with a diamond and then take two more spades when he gets in later with a heart. A total of three spades, a heart, and a diamond for the defense while declarer has only wound up with two spades, three diamonds a club, and two hearts. 
    Your result so far:
    Next